Android Build System and Overview

Karthik Dantu and Steve Ko

Administrivia

Show us your CyanogenMod!

Any issues in building?
Post your comments for both papers.
Android Build System & Source Tree

Todays goal
Getting to know the build system
Navigating the source tree
Resources
<android source root>/build/core/build-
system.html
http://elinux.org/
Embedded Android by Karim Yaghmour
Other sources: Android Building google groups
Git & Repo

AOSP is a set of repositories, each individually

managed by git.
If you dont know git, please go find out!
repo is a tool that manages multiple git repositories.
.repo directory: management files
Its actually another git repository.
repo init: just clones this repository.
repo sync: clones other repositories based on
manifest.xml file.
Try Out!

You might need to add your own repository for your

project.

$ cd .repo
$ ls al
$ cd manifests
$ vi default.xml
(vi or whatever editor)
$ git branch -a
Build Targets

Build name + build type (eng, user, & userdebug)

Generates different builds for different purposes
eng: produces an engineering build.
user: produces a release build.
userdebug: produces a release build plus some
limited debugging support.
Sets different system properties.
getprop, setprop
property_get(), property_set()
Build Targets

eng
adb enabled and runs as root by default
(ro.secure=0)
DDMS & debugger connection enabled
(ro.debuggable=1)
user
adb disabled by default & no debugging
userdebug
adb enabled (does not run as root) & debugging
support
Try Out!

You might want to define system-wide properties.

$ adb shell getprop

$ adb shell getprop ro.secure
$ adb shell getprop ro.debuggable
Build Environment

Useful commands after source-ing build/envsetup.sh

croot: cd to the source root.
m: make from the source root.
mm: make in the current module.
mmm: make whats specified.
cgrep, jgrep, mgrep: grep in C, Java, and
Makefiles.
godir: go to a directory that contains a file. (If
you run it, it will index first.)
printconfig: prints out the current configuration.
Try Out!

$ godir Android.mk
Make System

Combines
Build configuration (build/envsetup.sh & lunch)
Core .mk files (build/core/main.mk,
build/core/config.mk,
build/core/definitions.mk, build/core/Makefile,
etc.)
Product descriptions (AndroidProducts.mk & .mk
for the specific product)
Board description (BoardConfig.mk) files
Module description (Android.mk) files
Make Targets

make showcommands: shows all the make

commands as it goes on. (good for debugging)
make clobber: the cleanest removal.
make modules: shows all modules that can be built
individually.
make <module name>: builds just that module.
Android.mk: Makefile for a module.
LOCAL_MODULE is the target name for a module
Try Out!

$ make modules
$ cd dalvik/dalvikvm
$ vi Android.mk
Source Tree

abi: C/C++ Application Binary Interface

bionic: Androids C library
bootable: Things related to booting (bootloader,
installer, etc.)
build: Build tools and makefiles
cts: Compatibility Test Suite
dalvik: Dalvik VM
developers: Code samples
Source Tree

development: Tools, scripts, files related to

development (e.g., emulator, ndk, & sdk)
device: Device-specific files
docs: source.android.com docs
external: various tools/libraries from external
sources (other open source projects)
frameworks: the Android framework
Especially, base & base/core (android.* &
com.google.*)
Source Tree

hardware: Hardware support libraries, e.g., Wi-Fi,

framebuffers, etc.
libcore: Core Java libraries (java.*) mostly from
Apache Harmony VM
libnativehelper: Helper functions written in C/C++
ndk: Native Development Kit
packages: Essential APKs that gets installed, e.g.,
Browser, Phone, ContactsProvider, etc.
pdk: Platform Development Kit
Source Tree

prebuilts: Prebuilt tools for compiling (mainly for

cross-compiling)
sdk: Software Development Kit
system: Core system tools and libraries, e.g., adb,
fastboot, sh, init, logcat, wlan, liblog, & libcutils.
tools: Other external tools
vendor: Vendor-specific files
File System Structure

/boot: kernel image and ramdisk

/system: the Android system
/recovery: recovery image & space for the recovery
mode
/data: user data, e.g., apps (/data/app &
/data/data/<app name>), contacts, etc.
/cache: space for caching (apps can also use this
space.)
/misc: space for system settings
/sdcard: internal SD card (symlinked to /mnt/sdcard)
Other Pseudo File Systems

cgroup: Control Group for kernel parameters

/proc/cgroups
procfs: kernel live data, e.g., parameters,
processes...
/proc
sysfs: kernel objects, e.g., devices, FSes,
modules,
/sys
tmpfs: devices available
/dev
Try Out!

$ adb shell df
Architecture
Apps
APIs
System Services Java Libraries

Activity Manager android.*

Location Manager java.*
Dalvik, Zygote, Android Rumtime
JNI
Native Libraries Daemons Tools HAL

Linux Kernel with Android Extensions

(Wakelocks, Binder, lowmem, etc.)
Daemons

adbd: adb daemon

vold: volume manager daemon
rild: radio interface layer daemon
app_process: Zygote
servicemanager: manager for all services
Kernel Extensions

wakelocks
lowmem handler
Binder
ashmem (Anonymous Shared Memory)
Logger